Wing shells of this type generally comprise the wing skin and stringers connected to it. Longitudinal forces are transmitted both by the skin and the stringers. In known wings the stringers or other members increasing the flexural strength are stuck to the wing skin. However, adhesion creates problems relating to the damage tolerance of the shell, particularly partial detachment of individual stringers from the wing shell as a result of impact loads, with ensuing propagation of the damage at a damaged location. Consequently skin-stringer connections are frequently secured by rivets in addition to the adhesion joint.
DE 43 29 744 C1 describes a wing in which rods, comprising a tubular wall of fibrous composite material on a foam core with at least one layer of paraxial unidirectional fibers and a superimposed fabric tube with fibers intersecting at an angle to the axis of the rod, are used to obtain the necessary flexural strength. The rods, which also act as stringers, are combined in pairs of bundles of three which are provided with a sheath wing good shear strength and are stuck to the interior of the wing shell side by side. At the root of the wing the rods are provided with rotationally symmetric connecting members for axial introduction of tensile and compressive forces. The connecting members are provided with a coaxial connecting screw thread into which fixing screws are driven, these being screwed into the thread through a connecting rib on the fuselage. With this design the rods must be arranged with the axes perpendicular to the rib at the wing root. However, this limits the choice of position for the straight rods within the wing shell. Apart from the fact that adhesion joints are used here too, this construction can only be applied to wings where an appropriate proportion of the rods can extend in a straight line to the tip of the wing, at right angles to the rib at the wing root.